Studio Talks with Richard Freeman: Process of Yoga (2 CD's)

There are two internal forces or breaths, Prana and Apana, which govern the inhale and the exhale respectively. Prana rises, spreads and blossoms. Apana goes down, contracts and roots. Joining them consciously is the beginning of Yoga. When first practicing, the attention will flow with either one or the other of the inner breaths, alternatively. Feeling and expressing only one of them at a time externalizes the attention into discursive thinking. Simultaneous awareness of these complementary tendencies requires that all of one’s attention be on the posture as the object of meditation! Then insight flows unceasingly during any posture and in the movements between the postures. The primary technique of uniting the Prana and Apana is using the breath to do Mulabandha, as the root of the palate opens. The way the rest of the body accommodates this inner uniting is the universal, inner form of all the Yoga postures.

2 CDs, 2 hours